Poliomyelitis (polio for short) is an acute infectious disease triggered by the polio virus and it mainly threatens the health of children aged between 1 and 6. The major clinical symptoms of the disease include fever accompanied by meningitis, atrophy of various muscles, etc. In severe cases, muscle pain can be observed and paralysis may be induced subsequently — callously bringing excruciating pain to families.
Despite the great threat polio poses exemplified by possibilities of handicap in severe cases, scientists have successfully found a vaccine to undermine this threat (sugar-pill polio deactivating vaccine) as early as in the 1950s. Human is the sole host of polio virus. Hence, if the spreading of virus amongst humans is curbed effectively, it is definitely possible to eradicate polio completely just like smallpox. Thus, World Health Organization has launched a global campaign against polio which reinforces the crucial and imperative implementation of the vaccine in 1988. As a result, the current number of victims of polio virus has decreased drastically to a few hundred or thousand per year from the 35 thousand a year in 1988. Furthermore, the rampancy of polio is only observed in an extremely limited number of countries.
From the mid-1960s, our government has been reinforcing the utilization of sugar-pill polio deactivating vaccine nationwide. In 1988, we responded swiftly to World Heath Organization’s call and launched a nation-wide campaign, combating and eradicating polio virus.
Scrutinizing into the statistics and observations, large scale implementation of the vaccine has yielded excellent result — no one was discovered to be infected with wild polio virus in the mainland ever since Oct, 1994. From a preliminary analysis of statistics, our implementation of the vaccine has shielded more than a million of children from the threat of the wild polio virus that may result in handicap.
Sugar-pill polio vaccine has played an indispensable role in our battle against polio. However, a few children were still diagnosed with polio after inoculation. This may be attributed to the deactivating mechanism of the vaccine that acts by undermining the toxicity as well as the activity of the virus and another reason could be the disparity between users as well as possible disabilities of the immune-system. According to a report by World Health Organization, a case of disease may be observed from a pool of 2.5 million to 10 million children who are vaccinated with the sugar-pill deactivating vaccine and the disease is associated with the vaccine. Those disease cases are mainly concentrated in the first-time users of the vaccine. Hence, this observation has triggered off some misunderstanding and misconception of the polio vaccine.
Some question that why we hear or see more infantile paralysis cases than this ratio? That's because, besides polio virus, there are other pathogens causing acute sarcous paralytic, including enter virus such as EV71, ECHO and so on. Besides polios, there are other diseases such as Guillian-Barre's syndrome as well as polyneuritis leading to acute sarcous paralytic. People who have little knowledge about this often confuse paralysis cases in relation to vaccines with acute paralysis resulting from other factors. In addition, if the patients have latent of certain diseases or in the prodromal stage of certain diseases before being vaccinated, they may get sick after being vaccinated. Whatever possible, parents shall take the sickened children to see a doctor for a diagnosis in order to avoid a serious result from delay treatment.
In order to scientifically and systematically deal with the anomalous reactions after the inoculation, the Ministry of Health has introduced Measures to Identify Abnormal Response of Vaccination with effect after Dec 1, 2008. The measure has introduced correct approaches that should be undertaken by each level of disease prevention organizations as well as clinics in their diagnosis, analysis and treatment of abnormal response after inoculation. When controversy occurs with respect to diagnosis, local Medical association may be involved to initiate investigation and evaluation. Meanwhile, all levels of governments should come up with relevant measures to compensate patients who are identified to suffer from abnormal response of vaccination.